Taking Back Control of Your Life

It is no surprise that the economy has been tough for many individuals for the past few years. Many families have lost their own due to not being able to keep up with their mortgage payments. Since the housing marketing flipped to become a buyer’s market, some lenders took advantage by granting loans to individuals who did not meet the criteria for a loan. In these cases, you can sue your lender among many other reasons we have listed below, to help you out during this difficult time.

Reasons to Sue Your Lender

You might feel it is counter-intuitive to sue your lender but banks do not work in the same way everyone else does. Their main goal is to make money and rather than sit back and allow them to take advantage of your situation here are a few reasons why you should consider taking legal action.
Filing a lawsuit can put you back in control of the situation. Asking for a loan modification can be extremely difficult and an attorney can help. Applying can be a nightmare as you hear many stories about the banks mistreating homeowners.
They can also aid you in gaining monetary damages. As stated before, some lenders have been taken advantage of by their lenders which is why many states have adopted a Homeowner Bill of Rights which provides homeowners monetary damages if they are a victim of deceptive practices. Your attorney can also help you with attorneys and court fees since you can recoup your fees as a part of your damages.
Ultimately you might end up with a better loan modification with an attorney than you would by seeking it out on your own. This is because your lawyer will be well-versed in the legalities on real estate and can find angles you might not have thought of.

Los Angeles Litigation Lawyer

Most homeowners do not file a lawsuit because they feel like bank are untouchable but this is not the case. In order to take on a bank you will need a professional liability attorney. At the Law Offices of James T. Hudson, our attorneys are well-versed in real estate and banking laws. For a free consultation, contact our offices at (213) 386-2747.

Applying for Life Insurance with Mental Illness

It is common knowledge that physical illnesses and smoking are two common factors that can greatly affect your life insurance policy. Rates can go up or you can lose your policy. Mental illness is one health criteria that can affect your life insurance rate. Here is what you need to know about your life insurance when you have mental illness.

History of Mental Illness

Mild brushes with anxiety or depression that responded well to treatment, either through therapy or pharmaceuticals, will not affect your rate. This is due life insurance companies realize that everyone goes through stressful periods in their lives that could cause short term depression or anxiety. More often, life insurance companies are more concerned with individuals who are on multiple medications or hospitalized to stabilize their condition.

Life insurance companies will not look through your mental health records to deny you coverage. Most actually feel that a hint of a mental problem is much more of a risk that one that has manifest and has been treated. The company will want to know when you were diagnosed, who is treating you, and how treatment is going. That is why it may be a good idea to wait a few months since the insurers will have to understand how you are responding to the treatment.

More serious mental health problems, such as suicide can make it extremely difficult to obtain life insurance. Some insurers will draw up a policy after a few conditions are met but may wait one or two years after an attempt to issue one. Some may charge an additional premium for a few years if there is an ongoing rick for suicide.

Life Insurance and Mental Illness in Los Angeles

Overall, mental illness such as depression and anxiety should not affect the rate too much. In fact, some individuals make it to the top tier rate despite the mental illness they have. If the policy holder was forthcoming with every single aspect of their illness, there is no reason for their policy to be voided. If this has happened to you then it is time to seek the guidance of a professional. At The Law Office of James T. Hudson, we have the attorneys who can aid you during your life insurance case. For a free consultation, contact our office at (213)386-2747.

Applying for Life Insurance

For those of us looking to save money on our insurance rates there is the temptation to do anything, including telling a few fibs, in order to get it. This, along with a few others, are mistakes you do not want to make when applying for life insurance because it can void you policy after your death. Here are other mistakes you want to be aware of when filling out your forms.

Common Application Mistakes

Lie- Your life insurance application requires answering many questions about your health. Your thinking might go one of two ways, the questions are too invasive or you will be penalized for answering truthfully. They will not care that you have recently gone to the doctor’s for a common cold. Lying only means that your claim can be contested when the insurance company finds out the truth.

Losing Weight- Your agent might inform you that you are over the weight limit for the best health class by a certain amount. Do not use this as a reason to put off your insurance in order to lose the weight. Every application will ask if you lost weight within the last year and if so, will only credit you half of what you lost. This is because they know that sometimes people will get off their diet and double their weight loss.

Smoking- Since a cigarette habit is a hard one to quit, you may find yourself lapsing every now and again. While you might not consider yourself a smoker based on smoking one once a year, most insurance companies will. Do not lie about smoking on your application since your family will suffer once the claim is challenged.

Life Insurance Law Firm in Los Angeles, CA

Since making any of these mistakes can lead to a challenged claim, you or your family may find yourselves battling the life insurance company. If this were to occur, Los Angeles residents can turn to the law firm of James T. Hudson. We can help you take on the insurance companies to get the money you are owed. For a free initial consultation, contact our office at (213)386-2747.

Disability Insurance

When it comes to filing a disability claim, the Social Security Administration relies on doctor’s records and medical evidence to determine whether or not you are disabled. When it comes to this, the SSA will request the records from your physicians but it should be your responsibility to make sure they receive all of your records.

Records You Need from Your Doctor

SSA will require documents from all the doctors who have treated you for your disabling condition. That means if you have multiple disabilities, you will need to provide all the medical records from all the different doctors who have treated.

Keep in mind that you do not need to provide the SSA will all of your medical history. Avoid giving them irrelevant medical records. For example, if the disability is mental health in nature, you do not need to provide records from your eye doctor or podiatrist as the information is not relevant.

Exact Information Needed

The exact information you need to provide the SSA depends on the nature of your claim. For example, we’re you to request disability insurance based on back pains, information from a orthopedic doctor, a neurosurgeon, and a physical therapist. From those doctors, copies of CT scans, x-rays, and MRIs to show any damaged must be provided. A report from a radiologist that describe their findings will need needed. Any surgical exams must also be reported along with a detailed physical therapy plan with your response to your treatment. The doctors must also provide their assessments when it comes to your ability to work.

The SSA has outlines with a number of conditions, that if when met, you qualify for approval. Their conditions are commonly called listings and your doctor feels your condition qualifies, they can fill out a form stating so.

Disability Insurance Claims in Los Angeles

Protecting your disability insurance is paramount to your health. At the Law Office of James T. Hudson, Mr. Hudson makes it a priority to educate his clients about their rights when it comes to insurance. For a free consultation, contact our office at (213)386-2747.

Not What You Asked For

Using an architect is the best way to get a building or your home custom made to your needs. It is easy to place your trust in them when they hold such expertise and natural to expect the highest quality of work to be produced. When you have been let down by poor standards that lead to a financial loss, a professional negligence claim might be the way in which you can recover some of that loss.

Negligent vs Inadequate

When filing a claim against your architect it is important to establish if they were negligent or if they provided inadequate service. These two concepts tend to overlap, especially when delays in the project occur. More often than not, these delays are beyond the control of your architect. When it comes to delays that cost you loss of money because the architect has failed to hire contractors or order materials in a timely manner, which is a valid negligence claim

Architect Negligence

The negligence of an architect can come about in many ways. A poor design, badly drawn plans, recommendations to use unsuitable materials or poor management are all examples of negligence on the architect’s part. Not only can their carelessness lead to loss of money and cause a huge inconvenience, it can also lead to safety risks. A structure built in an unsafe manner with the improper materials is a major safety risk to any inhabitants. Taking a risk with your wallet or your well-being is not a chance you should be taking.

Filing a Claim

A professional negligence claim can help you recover some of your financial costs that you may have suffered. When suing an architect, you can only benefit from the expertise of a professional liability attorney. At the Law Offices of James T. Hudson, our attorneys can help you recoup your losses from a neglectful architect. Get expert legal advice from our experienced attorneys by calling us for a free consultation at (213)386-2747.

Life Insurance Companies

The business of life insurance companies is to make a profit. Which is why they will try to avoid paying out large life insurance policies by search for any reason to deny the claim. The main way they are able to deny your claim is by accusing you, or a loved one, of making a misrepresentation on the life insurance application.

Tactics Used by Insurance Companies

Life insurance companies will use many tactics to back out of paying a claim. Mainly they use: accusations of misrepresentation, the contestability period, and outright cancel the policy for failure of payment.

Accusations

The most common accusations made by life insurance companies to deny a claim are as listed:

Occupation

Employment History

Age

Income

Tobacco/Alcohol Use

Assets

Additional Insurance Policies

Dangerous Hobbies

These accusations are pretty vague and fall under broad territory. This is exactly why companies are able to get away with backing-out of claims because the language in the application can be misleading. A good rule of thumb for this is to ask specific questions as to what each mean and get a lawyer to look over the policy.

Contestability Period

If a loved one passes away during the time referred to as the “contestability period”, which is the time where an insurance policy is supposed to be reviewing your paperwork in order to determine if they will grant you coverage. At this time, the company will launch an investigation to determine whether or not misrepresentation were made on their applications.

Cancellation of Policy

Cancelling your policy after the insured person passes away due to failure of payment is another way the insurance company gets out of paying. Which is why one must be meticulous when it comes to paying your monthly fee.

Life Insurance Misrepresentation Protection in Los Angeles

If you have found yourself being denied a life insurance claim then it is time to hire legal counsel. An insurance company who specialize in representing those who are wrongly accused of misrepresentation. The Law Offices of James T. Hudson can help you disprove the false accusations made by insurance companies. For a consultation, contact our office at (213)386-2747.

Know Your Rights

As consumers, most of us trust that the products we use on a daily basis will not malfunction, especially not to the point that they could be physically harmful, even deadly, to us. For context, in the 3-year period from 2009-2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has reports of 336 deaths (an average of 112 deaths per year) that are associated with, but not necessarily caused by nursery products among children younger than age 5. Of those, cribs/mattresses, bassinets/cradles, playpens/play yards, infant carriers/car seat carriers/ and baby baths/bath seats/bathinettes were associated with 87 percent of the fatalities reported.

More recently, Takata airbags have been at the center of controversy for several major carmakers, including Ford, Mazda, and Chrysler, among others. Some carmakers previously recalled vehicles in high humidity areas, but have now expanded their recalls nationwide (according to the New York Times, December 12, 2014). The defective airbags have forced more than 16 million vehicles to be recalled worldwide. The problem rested in metal flying through the cabin of a vehicle when the airbags deploy. This is one problem that has only worsened with time, as many have criticized officials for not moving quickly enough to expand the recall. In turn, customers were bringing their cars in for repair only to find out that not enough replacement parts existed.

Protection Against Product Defects

These represent just a couple of examples of the harmful effects of product recalls. Both of these recalls affect adults, but (perhaps more significantly) can be deleterious to kids. Year after year, toy recalls are the most publicized in the media of all the different types of recalls. For good reason too – toys can quickly lead to asphyxiation, lacerations, and abrasions for children. The numbers are staggering: an estimated 256,700 toy-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency department stores. It is important to note: that number does not include the injuries that occurred that were not worthy of hospital visits. Imagine trying to feel at peace at night when your child could be mere feet away from a dangerous product.

Civil Litigation Lawyer

If you or someone you know has experienced a defect, be it in a car, in the play room, or from a medication, it is important that you take appropriate action. With James Hudson Law at your side, you can be sure that all litigation, arbitration, and mediation is done efficiently and effectively. We are eager to work for you. Give us a call: 213-386-2747.